The COVID-19 Pandemic and the Return of Indonesian Migrant Workers

Abstract

This study aims to describe the COVID-19 cases in the host countries and the home provinces of Indonesian migrant workers (IMWs), and to explore the process of returning home for the IMWs during the first six months of COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. The study employed secondary data mainly published by the Indonesian government and the news media. The data were analysed descriptively and exploratively. The study reveals that the potential returnees were from the host countries that had a number of COVID-19 cases which was not necessarily lower than Indonesia. Some provinces in Java had a large number of potential returning migrant workers as well as a number of COVID-19 cases. The IMWs returned home both legally and illegally while the COVID-19 cases were dominated by the local cases.